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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



I have reserved the Damsons for a word to themselves ; from 

 a profitable point of view I should certainly not have placed them 

 last, for I know no fruit that, taking the average of seasons, pays 

 the same amount of money as the Damson. By far the most 

 popular variety in the Midlands is the Damascene, Cheshire, 

 Shropshire, or Prune, and many a cottager pays his rent year 

 by year from some half-dozen trees in his garden. The demand 

 for the fruit is very great ; in seasons of great plenty the dyers 

 purchase them by the ton and — may we whisper it ? — "Port wine " 

 is said to be manufactured therefrom ; but apart from this there 

 is always a very large sale in our northern towns for cooking, 

 preserving, and bottling. The fruit ripens at a time when nearly 

 all other plums are over, and when fortunately our home-grown 

 fruit meets with no competition from abroad. 



Damsons are grown in America, but they seem to be confined 

 to the English-speaking race, and I never heard of their being 

 grown on the Continent. 



Bradley's King of Damsons is an excellent variety, an early 

 and heavy bearer, of good quality, ripening a little earlier than 

 the Damascene, and will doubtless become a popular kind. The 

 famous Crittenden or Farleigh Prolific, the dwellers in the Mid- 

 lands will have none of, and although the nurseryman may 

 propagate, the planters will not purchase. 



I have spoken of the Damascene as the Prune : it is some- 

 times called by this name, but it is, of course, quite distinct 

 from the true Herefordshire Prune, of the merits of which I 

 cannot as yet say much. Mr. Smith of Mentmore kindly sent 

 me some trees about twelve years ago, but although they have 

 grown freely and made fine trees, they have up to now failed to 

 produce fruit. At Mentmore I hear this variety crops well, and is 

 much esteemed. Damsons are useful for planting on the outsides 

 of plum-orchards, as they form a good shelter from the wind for 

 the other trees. 



It is generally conceded that all fruit-trees do better on 

 cultivated land than upon land which is grass, but the plum is, 

 perhaps, of all others essentially a fruit for cultivated orchards 

 or gardens. Where cattle have access to the trees they frequently 

 damage them to a serious extent. Plums should be gathered with 

 the aid of a step-ladder, or two ladders fastened together at the 

 top, for as the wood is brittle, a heavy ladder placed against the 



